Brazilian Venture: Unleashing the Potential of the Fastest-Growing Online Market.

Latin Venture has released a new report on the Brazilian online market that sees robust economic and Internet growth in Brazil in the coming years.

The report, “Brazilian Venture: Releasing the Potential of the Fastest-Growing Online Market,” was presented during the first day of Latin Venture’s “Vamos Wireless! 2001” conference, Feb. 12-13 at the Biltmore Hotel, in Coral Gables, Fla.

Produced by the Latin Venture Intelligence unit, “Brazilian Venture” leverages Latin Venture’s broad network of contacts among new-economy players in Brazil to provide a complete picture of the status of the current online market. It provides key information on Brazil’s economy, business regulatory environment, current investment climate, telecommunications infrastructure and in-depth description of the market and the largest players in Brazil’s new economy.

The report also provides interviews with key dealmakers in the Brazilian online market, conference proceedings from the December 2000 Latin Venture Br@zil conference in Sao Paulo and a list of the “Latin Venture Top 200” contacts in the Brazilian new economy.

“We are very excited to present this first in a series of Latin Venture Intelligence reports,” said Latin Venture CEO David Bernad. “We believe the unique format of our Intelligence reports will provide investors, corporate executives and entrepreneurs with all the information they need to prosper in the Brazilian market.”

Among the report’s projections for Brazil are:

— The country will see healthy economic growth at least through 2002, with consolidation of Brazil’s leading economic role in the region, particularly in “new economy” ventures.

— Private equity investment that more than tripled last year to US $3.5 billion should show growth again this year, although at a slower pace; investment in non-technology sectors will outpace investment in “new economy” initiatives; most equity investment in “new economy” initiatives will continue to come from outside the country.

— Brazil will experience an opening in its cumbersome regulatory environment this year, particularly with regard to pending legislation that would ease onerous rules on minority shareholder status and repatriation of foreign investment capital.

— Brazil will continue to be the primary focus of Internet and new-economy investment in the region, given its clear lead in the online e-commerce marketplace – more than half of all e-commerce transactions took place in Brazil last year.

— The introduction of further competition in wireless telephony should be a huge boon to vendors and providers of wireless content and e-commerce software and appliances, both domestic and foreign, although wireless is still far from a viable replacement of the personal computer (PC) as a means of Internet access in Brazil.

More information on “Brazilian Venture: Unleashing the Potential of the Fastest-Growing Online Market,” can be obtained from the Latin Venture website at: http://www.latinventure.com/intelligence/intelligence-brazilian-venture.htm